A Little Push
by GABGM
Summary: A one shot about the how the people in his life pushed Josh to fight for what he wants. Pure Joshaya fluff with mentions of Shawn/Katy and an appearance from Auggie because he is to cute to keep out of any GMW story.


During the summer after his junior year of high school, after many years of trying and failing, Josh Mathews finally landed a date with the prettiest girl in School, Alison James. Realizing that the usual meal at chuby's and a walk around the park wasn't going to cut, Josh decided to think outside the box. Aly loved every and all things vintage so perhaps a trip to the local bowling alley and then a drive to the drive in movies across town was in store. Aly was of course ecstatic upon hearing his plans for the evening and ran to the counter as soon as they entered the bowling alley to begin as soon as possible. It didn't take long for Josh to see through her plan, she was deliberately playing badly in an attempt to get him to help her. Usually, he would have been overjoyed at the chance to get to get close to her to show her how to through the ball correctly, but deep inside he yearned for a spark of competitive fire in her. His mind wandered back to this very spot only a year prior, where his niece's best friend annihilated them all. He remembered the joy in her eyes as she bowled her last strike, apologizing to no one for her dominance. Josh was pulled out of his thoughts of the fiery young blonde by his date.

"I kind of suck" she said sweetly.

"It's your first time"

"Maybe I'm pretending to be bad so as to save your ego"

"I have no ego. Last year my friend Maya destroyed me here"

"So do you take all the girls here?" she raised her eyebrow.

"No, she's my niece's best friend. They were visiting from New York"

"You were beat by a kid"

"Not really" he explained "she's fourteen. My brother's eighteen years older than me"

"Wow that must suck"

"Not really" he shrugged "I get to be the cool uncle"

"I bet you are" she flirted "I bet you have all her little friends crazy about you"

"Oh yeah you should see my fan club" he joked. "this is kind of a bust" he said feeling slightly uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation "what about we hit the movies?"

"Good idea" she grabbed his hands. Aly was less than enthusiastic when she discovered that the movie they would be seeing was silent. Josh couldn't believe that the girl that had single handedly organized the thirties themed dance at their school, wasn't totally hyped at the prospect of watching such a classic Charlie Chaplin film. At around the half way point Josh could no longer resist the temptation and he quickly turned to face her, he was disappointed to see the boredom plastered on her face but that disappointment was quickly wiped away when she captured his lips in a kiss. Even while kissing the girl of his dreams, Josh found his mind escaping to New York, as it had been doing at lot recently. Despite this however, he continued to make out with Alison, he was a seventeen year old guy after all. The night was over soon after and son enough he was walking his date to her front door.

"I had a really good time" he started awkwardly.

"Can I be blunt Josh?" she asked.

"Yes" he answered, relieved she decided to cut the tension.

"What's her name?"

"Come again"

"The girl you're hung up on, what's her name?"

"There's no gi-"

"I'm not an idiot Josh. You've been asking me out for years, I finally say yes and now your head is anywhere but with me. Something's obviously changed this year"

"Sorry, I don't really know what's going on with me"

"You're in love" she laughed "Okay in like" she rectified upon seeing the horror on his face.

"I am not in like" he told her.

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow "are you really going to tell me with a straight face that you weren't thinking about someone else tonight? who is she?"

"She's no one"

"Come on" she whined "is it that girl from New York?"

"it's not like that okay?" he answered, a hostile tone in his voice "she's three years younger than me"

"So? You dated Hannah Shaw this year, she's a freshman, that's two years"

"I don't like her like that okay?"

"It doesn't look that way. I'm sorry I didn't go out with you sooner Josh, you're a great guy but I'm pretty sure you're another girl's great guy. It's too late for me" with that she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before running in her front door.

Alison was the first of many people who would later comment on Josh's intentions towards the the feisty blonde girl in the years to come. Apparently the people in his life had a better handling on his inner feelings than he did. Somehow his feelings became obvious to everyone other than himself. So it was a surprise to no one that Josh needed several pushes from friends and family before he began to chase what he really wanted in life.

A few months after his failed date with Aly, Josh fond himself once again coming home from an unsuccessful date, the most recent in a chain of painfully awkward dates. He was shocked to find Feeny's backyard turned upside down when he turned the corner of his home.

"What happened Mr. Feeny?" he asked the older man who seemed uninterested as he read a book on his back door step.

"Your brother and his best friend decided to dig up the past;" he answered "literally" he later added after quickly looking over his garden.

"Cory and Shawn are here?"

"Yes, along with your sister in-law, niece and the young Miss Hart"

"Maya too?" he perked up.

"Aren't you supposed to be out with miss Jessica Rivera?" He asked suspicious.

"I wasn't aware you were so informed on gossip" he challenged.

"I know everything that happens around here Mr Mathews. Haven't you realized that yet?"

"I'm well aware of your omnipotent abilities"

"Miss Rivera is not the right girl for you"

"Is that right?" he laughed.

"Yes" Mr Feeny answered unamused.

"I'm seventeen I don't have a right girl for me"

"Do you really believe that?"

"I do"

"You may be able to lie to yourself but you can't lie to me Joshua"

"I'm not lying! I don't like her like that"

"Like who?" Mr Feeny smirked "I don't recall mentioning any names"

"You didn't?" Josh sat on the swing and put his head in his hands "What am I going to do?" he sighed.

"You can admire someone and contemplate your feelings without acting on them Mr. Mathews"

"It feels wrong to even think about it"

"Recognizing you may feel something and doing something about it are very different things"

"What if I'm not ready?"

"That's fine too. But don't get frustrated when other girls realize they're not your first choice"

"Thanks Mr. Feeny, you always know the perfect thing to say"

"It's what I'm here for"

The next person to confront him about his less than innocent feelings, though he was nowhere near prepared to recognize them, towards Maya was the last person he had ever expected to. On her sixteenth birthday, Shawn decided to throw Maya a surprise party in a trendy downtown restaurant, even flying her half sister Melanie out. As he saw her walk through the door in a beautiful red dress, hair cascading around her shoulders and eyes glittering with joy, Josh's breath caught in his throat. "Wow" he breathed out, hoping that no one had heard him.

"She seems happy right?" Shawn walked up behind him as he watched Maya spin her eleven year old mini me around on the dance floor.

"Yeah, you did a really nice thing Shawn"

"Well I love her"

"I know"

"You know I met Katy two years ago today? I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight"

"What? Congratulations man!" He hugged Shawn.

"I'm really excited, not just because of Katy, I really can't wait to officially be Maya's dad"

"She already considers yo her dad"

"I'm glad because she's a daughter to me. which is why I have to say what I'm about to no matter how uneasy it makes me"

"What's up?"

"I'm not blind Josh, I see how you look at her"

"It's not like that I swear"

"I know, relax" he assured "I know you would never take advantage of her, I know you care about her, maybe even love her, and you would always have her best interest at heart"

"I don't know why you're all so fixed on this"

"Because sometimes you need a push to see what's right in front of you. Look I'm just saying that when the time comes, and the both of you are ready, you have my blessing"

"It's not like that"

"You know when Katy and I first met she was sure I was mistaking my love for Maya for feelings for her. She fought me at every turn"

"And this is relevant to me because..."

"Because it's scary to look something real in the face but when you do it's worth it"

"Shawn-" he sighed.

"You can't see it now, that's fine but when you do I'll be here for you okay kid? My being like her dad doesn't change anything between us" he patted him on the back and made his way towards his soon to be stepdaughter, leaving Josh feeling more confused than he ever had.

When his youngest nephew approached him about the subject, Josh began to think that maybe he was denying feelings for Maya.

"joshie" the eight year old began "why don't you ask Maya to dance?"

"She's busy" he answered glancing over to the bridesmaid who was currently talking to Riley and Lucas.

"If I were you I would ask her before someone else does, she looks really pretty tonight"

"Yes she does" he looked over at the blonde in a beautiful wine colored knee length dress.

"Why don't you tell her that"

"Maybe you should Augs"

"Why? I don't love her"

"What?"

"Mommy says that when you love someone you should tell them how beautiful they are all the time. Like daddy tells mommy"

"That's when your _in_ love with someone" he laughed.

"Mommy and grandma say you're _in_ love Maya" he answered as if were the most obvious thing in the world "and mommy knows everything"

"Why don't you go over and tell Maya how beautiful she looks" as he watched his nephew run over to the small group he couldn't help but think about how his feelings for Maya had developed. Yes, it was in that moment, watching her content to simply be speaking with her friends, that Josh realized that his feelings for Maya were indeed romantic and they weren't going anywhere. "Oh shit!" he thought. How the hell could he have let himself fall for his niece's best friend? The age difference wasn't even that big of a deal anymore, she would be eighteen in four months and he we was just barely twenty, it was the inconvenience of it all. Maya had long ago let go of her school girl crush on Josh, in fact he was pretty sure his feelings ran a lot more deeply than hers did. What about their families? They had so much to loose. Too much he decided, too much to risk on romance so he locked his epiphany away in the back of his mind.

Unfortunately that didn't work very well and his discovery led to his feelings growing and growing each time he saw her. Why hadn't he made a move when he could? When she felt the same way. Why hadn't he listened to Alison, Mr Feeny or Shawn?

On the eve of her eighteenth birthday Maya found herself sitting on the fire escape, in an attempt to escape the multitude of party-goers and clear her mind. What was clouding her thoughts? The very bane of her existence; Joshua Mathews. She just couldn't figure out what was going on with him, the boy sent more mixed signals than a broken traffic light. It was fine when she was fourteen and it was totally inappropriate for them to be together, but what the hell was stopping him now? If he wasn't into her why the hell was he constantly flirting with her? Of course the person to bring her out of her pity party, by climbing out of the window, was the boy himself.

"You okay blondie?" he smirked.

"Yeah it's just a little bit crowded in there"

"I hear that. You mind if I join you?"

"Be my guest"

"Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah I'm going to miss this next year"

"Maya you'll be at NYU with Lucas, Riley will be at Columbia; it's like half an hour on the subway"

"Yeah but it won't be like this, I've spent everyday of my life with her since I was nine. I don't think I can do it without her"

"You can and you will Maya. And let's be honest; you could go to college on the moon and it still wouldn't affect your friendship. Riley's more your family than she is mine"

"I know but I guess I'm just scared; I've never had to do something on my own like this"

"You'll have Lucas and you'll have me; I'll give you the grand tour and everything"

"Yeah unless you ditch me for some sorority bimbo"

"You mean you won't be pledging?" He laughed and she smacked him.

"No! Have you met me? I guess you'll just have find another way to meet desperate freshmen"

"Yeah right! I'll make an exception for you but I can't be seen with freshmen; I have a reputation to keep"

"I'm special" she laughed.

"That you are" he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Josh" she sighed and pulled away "I can't keep doing this"

"Doing what?"

"That's my point exactly!" she yelled frustrated "what the hell are we doing? You either like me or you don't but stop sending me mixed signals because I can't take it anymore and I would really love to mov-" her words were cut short when Josh attacked her lips with a kiss, a kiss that lasted no where near as long as she hoped it would.

"Like you?" he asked trying to catch his breath "Are you kidding? Maya I've loved you since I was seventeen" and this time it was Maya that pressed her lips t his.

So yeah, it took a little bit of pushing from the people he loved for Josh to finally make a move on the girl he loved, but all that really mattered was that when the most important person pushed him, it didn't take much persuasion at all.

 **A little one shot I wrote but I'm not very happy with it. I didn't plan on uploading but as there is a severe lack of Joshaya fics out there I did. As always please review and please let me know what you thought. If you want to see another one-shot please don't hesitate to let me know, if I like it I might write it and hopefully it will be better than this. Thank you for reading.**


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